大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rt Rev Paul Mason.

Good morning.

Amongst the many altars in St Peter鈥檚 Basilica in Rome there is one dedicated to Pope St Gregory the Great, he was the Pope who sent St Augustine on mission to England in 596 with Augustine becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597.

The mosaic above the altar depicts St Gregory as is often the case: the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove at his shoulder whispering into his ear. The story has it that St Gregory鈥檚 scribe, St. Peter the Deacon, saw a dove alight on the saint while he was composing his homily on Ezekiel 1:25, "a voice came from above the firmament." Whenever the dove would start whispering in the saint's ear, Gregory would commence dictating to Peter, and when the dove stopped the dictation also stopped.

Last month Pope Francis launched a 2-year synodal process across the universal Church in order to listen to the whispering of the Holy Spirit in the world. One might conclude from this that the voice from above the firmament must not be whispering into his ear as it did his erstwhile predecessor.

But not so. As surely as the Holy Spirit continues to whisper from above the firmament, so he moves and whispers and has his being in the here and now, and often in places we may least expect it. And so, we must be attentive listeners.

Heavenly Father, just as we need light from above and food from the earth, guide us by your light of truth and help us find the fertile soil in which we can all grow in your Holy Spirit.

Amen.